Brave New World
by AnJL
Summary: Sequel to Leaving Normal. Rating is for language only. Chlex,of course!
1. Meet the Parents

~First off, I'm a Chlex 'shipper. The characters etc aren't mine, I just like to make 'em dance. The Lex I write is in love with Chloe, and is kinda possessive and territorial. If she was ever taken from him, he would probably destroy the world. As it is, she provokes whatever vestige of conscience or morality he has. BTW, Lrnd - Lex got stabbed in Club Zero - I see him as keeping the scar as a reminder~  
  
~This is the sequel to -Leaving Normal-, so it takes place before -A Game of Pool-. Everything up to 'Drone'. The timeline is probably going to go pants in 'Crush', and then I'll be off into AU land.~  
  
~I've upped the rating on my stories because some little snot flamed me about bad language. These are for the grown-ups.~   
  
1. Meet the Parents  
  
MARTHA  
  
Clark's lurking in the barn again. Jonathan says that that is normal teenage boy behaviour. I suspect that he's got that wretched telescope trained on the Potter house again.  
  
Sometimes I could slap Nell Potter, however many excuses Jon comes up with for her. She's kept that poor girl trained to some impossible ideal. She always was jealous of Laura. Lana has to be the perfect princess. I recognise the 'White Knight' syndrome - something the Kent men do well.  
  
I'd always hoped that Clark would wake up to that nice child Chloe. Instead she's been swept off her feet by Lex Luthor. And that put Nell's nose out of joint, too. I just know she was hoping that Lana's 'business venture' at the Talon would develop further.  
  
Talk of the devil...that car of his has just screeched up. And he's brought Chloe with him. Helping her out of the car like a gentleman, and being pushed gently in the chest.  
  
"You go play with Clark. I'm going to talk to Mrs. Kent."  
  
The look he sends after her is so lost and so hungry that I have to look away.   
  
GABE   
  
My little girl is all grown up now.  
  
And to think I was just worried about my job when they told us Luthor Jr. was coming to the plant. We'd all heard what an evil little prick he was. Instead, first day on the job, he comes striding in, hand out-stretched, knowing my name. Well-groomed, friendly, and with eyes like a shark. I thought that bald head was just affectation.   
  
But this is the guy who faced down that nut Jenkins. That cold-hearted bastard of a father of his just sent him in against a gun-toting whacko. Nothing at any fancy college will prepare you for that. And this rich kid fresh out of college talked him down - I still don't know how. Just got himself and the Kent kid out, and got the company to look after its own. His father was pissed, but with the Press as witnesses, there wasn't much he could do about it. That was the day the guys at the plant stopped thinking of him as 'the kid'. He put his ass on the line over staff cuts, and we still managed to post a bonus this quarter. A good man to work for.  
  
It still doesn't make me happy that he wants to date my daughter. One of my guys has a brother in the Metro PD. I know a lot of records went missing, but I know what was in them. DWI, Possession, Assault. Rich kid stuff. And then it all went real quiet. I just hope he's grown up now.  
  
JONATHAN  
  
Well, well. The brat is back. Martha's a sweetheart, and she has a soft spot for any waif and stray that crosses her path, but this one...I don't like him. I don't like his father. I don't like what they do, what they stand for. I don't like the way he makes me turn into an intolerant rube every time I set eyes on him.  
  
And now he's dating Clark's friend, the little Sullivan girl. Gabe must be mad.  
  
God help us, what a combination. Chloe's a sweet kid, but she can't keep her nose out of anything. The adoption thing was too close - even Martha doesn't know the half of that. And Luthor - I don't trust him as far as I can spit. Neither of them are stupid, and they're both just too close to Clark.  
  
Just being threatened by that little prick of Luthor Sr.'s made me feel sick. Nearly burnt a hole in that fancy purple shirt of his.   
  
I know it was a nice thing Lex did for the Fordmans. I nearly choked on the compliment, but it was worth it for the way his face relaxed. Since that moment he told me that he envied my family, I keep seeing the lost kid in the overly expensive suit that Martha sees. I can't blame him for Clark growing up. I just - still don't trust him. The scientific mind can be a bitch.  
  
  
MARTHA  
  
I have never been so frightened in my life as when I saw Tyler touch Clark. To watch something like that come near your child and not to be able to prevent it.  
  
Does Gabe feel that way about Lex?  
  
  
~I know I missed one parent out - he's in a later chapter!~ 


	2. Treading Carefully

2. Treading Carefully  
  
Last week...  
  
LEX   
  
Dominic is in my house. In my library. I thought that getting rid of the Palmers had eliminated my father's influence in this house. Obviously not. Someone let him in. What does my father want now? Just financial irregularity. Unlikely. We fence around it.  
  
"Tread carefully." I turn to leave.  
  
He is still wandering around the library, looking at the shelves.  
  
"Quite an eclectic selection, Lex. Milton, Nietszche, Rousseau...no Nabokov?"  
  
He smirks at me. If I look that smug, no wonder people loathe me.  
  
"If your father finds out that you're trying to screw a high school girl..."  
  
I'm no saint. I have thoughts about Chloe that could land me in jail. But I will not have some lackey sneer, make it sound so cheap.  
  
My voice is perfectly calm and level.  
  
"Remember who you are talking to, Dominic."  
  
I need to get away from this man before I lose any vestige of control and push him through a wall.  
  
***  
  
A very interesting conversation with Mr Kent. So it's not just me that my good buddy Clark keeps secrets from.   
  
***  
"Enjoy your drink."  
  
I watch Dominic's eyes roll up into his head, as he slides off my chair. Luckily the crystal tumbler doesn't break.  
  
***  
  
Isn't it strange how my father affects long hair and a beard in this age of the clean-cut image? It makes such a contrast to his son. He comes striding round his car, with that condescending smile.  
  
I honestly think he's disappointed that there isn't a body in the trunk. I stroll away, curiously numb, to where my limo driver is waiting.  
  
I still have nightmares about that fucking shark.  
  
Sharks...  
  
I pull out my cell-phone.  
  
"Chloe, does your father like football?"  
  
***  
  
We're all going to Metropolis. Gabe Sullivan does like football - he nearly tore my arm off to get those tickets.   
  
***  
  
Standing by the field, watching large men pound into each other. Suppress a memory of being forced to play rugby.  
  
"Uh...Mr Luthor...Lex." It's Whitney Fordman. What do they put in the water round here? I'm being loomed at. "I, uh, just wanted to say thank you. That meant a lot to my dad."  
  
I'm still pissed with Clark, so I'm actually friendly. Poor kid. He's losing his father, and he's losing his girl, and there's nothing he can do about it. I don't even have to get involved anymore - I've seen the little looks, the flirting in the Talon. I know he strung Clark up in that field, but to be honest, at this precise moment, I can totally sympathize. At least this kid appreciates his father. At least he's got a father worth appreciating. How strange that a few stilted words from Jonathan Kent can mean so much more than praise from my own father.  
  
I never visit the townhouse if I can help it. My father's house. Too many scenes - me falling out of cars, my own, somebody else's, sometimes a play of blue lights. Falling up the steps. Laughing uncontrollably, throwing up in the hallway. Living down to his every expectation. Shouting, breaking glass. But no fists, no contact.  
  
First time Clark rolls home drunk, his father is going to raise all hell with him. Lucky Clark. 


	3. Go Fish

~This chapter messed with my head. It was like a motivational talk from the bastard love-child of Charles Manson and Stephen R. Covey.~  
  
3. Go Fish  
  
CHLOE  
  
Back in Metropolis, courtesy of Lex Luthor. Again. This time, though, it's far more formal. I'm with my Dad, for a start. Limousine ride here, accommodation at the Metropolis Plaza. Premier Sharks tickets, in the Skybox.   
  
Lex is being carefully formal. He was already in Metropolis, met us at the VIP entrance. Small, special smile and a squeeze of my hand, before he had to go and greet someone else. I've managed to sneak a glass of wine.   
  
Crap. Lionel Luthor. Lex has never scared me the way that man does, though I fully believe he could be as big a bastard. Leonine, owning the room. Cold eyes assessing. Lex has become somehow more colourless in his presence, as if he has dimmed his natural personality. Mr Luthor knows my father, of course, comes to shake hands. Eyes run down over me, and I want to wash. Lex has gone very still.  
  
LIONEL  
  
Lex is up to something, and I have no idea what. How interesting. Smallville is tempering him, forging something out of the spoilt child.   
  
I don't believe in limits. Finding your own limits is merely admitting to your limitations. I would never tell him how proud I am of him. It is only natural that he should be the best. He's a Luthor. And he cannot be weak. He defies me at every turn, and that makes him stronger. One day I shall face him in some board-room skirmish, and he will win. But not yet, not yet. I am not ready.  
  
Is there some message for me in his bringing his plant manager here? The man is capable, a good foil for my son's erratic brilliance. That can't be his wife with him, can it? No, a daughter, by the body language. Ah. So this is the Sullivan girl. Oh, Lex, Lex, what are you doing?   
  
Bait for me? I deliberately let my eyes fall, and I can feel his hate across the room.   
  
  
LEX  
  
My father is looking at Chloe, and every muscle in my body has gone tight. I want to move between them, deflect that gaze.   
  
I have made a mistake. I should never have brought her here.   
  
LIONEL  
  
Well, well.  
  
A pretty little thing, with a determined jaw. I remember a party, a long while ago now, and a certain society girl with a look like that. I remember my surprise when she slapped my face.   
  
I shall watch this development with interest. This one is still an innocent. So my son has become fed up with the soiled doves of Metropolis. Good.  
  
When my head of security told me about an unscheduled trip to Metropolis I was surprised. Particularly since Lex had turned down the offer to return. To find out that he was merely spending idle time intrigued me. No drink, no drugs. Vargas does his job well - reports that my son has been clean of any pathetic chemical crutches since his, ah, exile.  
  
We have no need to talk. We gain our information from surveillance, strike and counter-strike. Test and test again.  
  
Lex wants to intervene, daren't, since it will draw my attention to what he thinks he has hidden. Controlling impulse is admirable. When he can control his instincts as well, he will be a formidable opponent. Until then, he will need me. Who else is strong enough to push him into greatness?  
  
He will become great. It is in his genes. It is his destiny. And I will push him, test him, temper him, until he is ready to surpass me. Then I will fight him, with all that I have. Make him destroy me. And his phoenix will rise from the ashes of my pyre.  
  
But now, I shall smile, retreat. Let him wonder. And now he will stay the other side of the room from the girl.   
  
CHLOE  
  
All through the game, I can feel those cold eyes on me.  
  
Dad is a bit overwhelmed, I think, finding himself in the presence of the great and good. Finds his old section manager, now gone up in the world. A small group of them are actually watching the match.  
  
I want to talk to Lex, but...I'm afraid. He has become a polite, distant figure. It's as if last week never happened. More than one game is being played here. I'm a very small fish in this pond.  
  
LEX  
  
Regroup, Lex.   
  
I am afraid. Not for myself, but for others. My father will not hesitate to destroy something he thinks I might value. So I have to stay on the other side of the room, not look at her. Not react when he runs his eyes over her.  
  
He wants my hate. He has it. 


	4. Just Kiss Me, Stupid

~Lex gets insecure. Chloe gets mad. Clark gets caught in the middle.~  
  
4. Just Kiss Me, Stupid  
  
CLARK  
  
I heard the car arrive. Doesn't take my special hearing for that. We had a good time fishing today, but my mind was partly on the game.  
  
Lex strolls into the barn, looking elegant and out of place as always.  
  
"Hi, Clark." He's still a little pissed with me for that row with my Dad.  
  
"Hi, Lex. How was the game?"  
  
"Fine." He seems distracted, a little distant. "How were the fish?"  
  
"Snappy as all get. Speaking of which, how's Chloe?"  
  
He seems to shrink inside his jacket, actually gets an expression.  
  
"She doesn't really want to be with ME, Clark. We both know that."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
LEX  
  
I look at him. He's built like a truck for a start. Critical truth, Luthor - he's a big, strong, good-looking guy Chloe's age. You are older, smarter and richer, but you are also smaller, weaker and bald. Crap.   
  
A high degree of self-awareness coupled with chronic insecurity. Not a good combination.  
  
"Clark, she has been holding out for a hero for a while now. And it isn't me. Maybe she doesn't realise it, but," I draw a breath. "I'm a rebound, a transition, call it what you will."  
  
It hurts to say it. But I saw today how it was. She just stuck close by her father, was subdued and polite. Maybe she does know, and she's getting back at Clark by dating me. Money doesn't impress her, so she's certainly not after my wealth. What else have I got? Screwed up background - juvenile rap sheet, and meeting my father would be enough to make anyone with any half-genuine feelings run. I carry more baggage than Fedex. And I'm damned if I'll be a consolation prize.  
  
Clark just blinks at me.  
  
"I don't think she'd do that, Lex."  
  
"Trust me on this. Women can be very...obscure."  
  
"I think you're wrong." But he doesn't sound very sure. And he knows Chloe as well as anyone.  
  
We go back to the house. I hang back in the doorway. Jonathan Kent looks up from cleaning a fish, and -that- is a big knife. Chloe is sitting at the table, laughing and chatting with Martha. She looks at home here. She turns and gives us both her wide happy grin.  
  
"Ready to go?" I ask.  
  
"I'm staying for dinner." she says. The pause afterwards is just a fraction too long, before Martha asks; "And you, Lex?"  
  
"I have somewhere else to be." I say smoothly. A large, empty dining room. "Clark, are you going to see Chloe home?" And on that deliberate note, I wait for his startled nod, and leave.  
  
Turn my car in a screeching arc, tear off as if I can out-run the memory of that cosy little room, where they don't want me. Why would they? Why would anyone want me?  
  
  
CHLOE  
  
The Luthors have always been in my life. Both Mom and Dad worked in the Metropolis office. I'm a Luthorcorp brat. Now I'm - sort of - dating the son and heir.  
  
One day I'm nursing an unrequited passion for my best friend. Then suddenly, I'm not. Am I that shallow? Or just a realist? However, what is so real about a very rich and very handsome man asking me to the big city with him? Or kissing me? I still carry the memory of that kiss. It is becoming very disconcerting in class.  
  
There are so many more suitable people I could have moved on with. Instead I find myself in a situation with Smallville's Prince of Darkness.  
  
Perhaps it's not so sudden. I have been clinging to the familiar. The images I had of Clark were - idealized. With Lex, I'm suddenly seeing the man, past the money and the attitude.   
  
Attitude. Right. What's up with that? Lex went flying off down the road yesterday. Clark looked surprised so they hadn't been fighting. Did I do something? Lex had been quiet, even by his standards, since we got back from Metropolis that afternoon. I need to know, so I corner Clark at lunch-time. He is uncharacteristically evasive. I threaten to tell Lana about the telescope. Low, I know, but I'm desperate. It works.   
  
"He's not sure you want to keep seeing him."   
  
"Oh."  
  
"He thinks it might be, uh, rebound. From me."  
  
I blink.   
  
"Rebound. He said this. Explain yourself, Clark. NOW."  
  
He does.  
  
By the time I reach the Luthercorp offices, I have got a full mad on. How dare he? Either of them?  
  
LEX  
  
I've never seen a full-on Chloe Sullivan rage before, and to have it directed at me was even more disturbing. She stormed into the office, and glared at me.  
  
"Rebound!?" She said, no, snarled. "You think I went out with you on the REBOUND? You ass-hole!"  
  
I just sit in my seat. I'm genuinely transfixed by this vision of fury stalking across the room. She puts both hands on the arms of the chair, leans right into my face.  
  
"You stupid..."  
  
A secretary tries to intervene at this point, and we both snap "get out!" simultaneously. I can feel my own temper start to rise. Never challenge a Luthor.  
  
"Wasn't it a rebound? How am I supposed to compete with that fucking farmboy? He's always going to be taller, stronger, better-looking..."  
  
"Poor little rich boy." Her nostrils are actually flaring. "For a genius, you can be the most complete moron. Get it through your stupid bald head that I love YOU, you ...prick!"  
  
She actually slaps me, palm to my forehead, and that breaks whatever spell is holding me in the chair, because I rise up out of it and grab her.  
  
"How can you love me? I'm a freak. Half this town, half the state, think I'm the spawn of Satan."  
  
"And you play up to it! Lurking in that gothic crypt of a house, driving like a psychopath."  
  
"Seducing local maidens?"  
  
Her eyes narrow. I'm bracing for a slapped face, when two small, strong hands grab my jacket lapels.  
  
"If you seduce anyone else, I will kill you." she promises.   
  
I'm so caught up in the soap opera we appear to have wandered into, that I kiss her, not at all gently. She bites me. That jolts both of us. She doesn't seem to know whether to laugh or cry. Very carefully, I put my arms round her. She subsides a little.  
  
"Now we've got that little 'Days of our Lives' moment out of the way, could you tell me exactly what's going on here?"  
  
Replaying it in my head, I realise that Chloe Sullivan just shouted that she loved me, somewhere in that stream of insults. Now she's pushing at my chest. I have enough sense left to know that she is so hideously embarrassed that if I let her go, she will run away and I will never see her again. So I hold on tight. A woebegone little face finally looks up at me. I've figured it out now.  
  
"Clark told you that I thought you had only gone out with me on the rebound."   
  
She nods. And I think, however big and fast he is, I'm going to pound the shit out of him when I catch him.  
  
"Clark is ..."  
  
"...an idiot, I know."  
  
"I was going to use something stronger." My mouth hurts. Testing my lip, I find blood. "Ow."  
  
"Oh, Lex. I'm sorry."  
  
"It's alright, sweetheart. I kind of like Psycho-Chloe." I smile at her. Tremulously, she smiles back. Then the smile suddenly widens into a Chloe grin, and she pushes me down into my chair, stands over me. I like it. Then she kisses me. A very deep and determined kiss, a wicked tongue teasing mine.  
  
"Does this feel like a rebound, Luthor?"   
  
"No." I'm in trouble here. We've gone from soap opera to soft core. And if Chloe keeps moving like that, we are going to end up in hard core. And I'm going to end up in jail. Just when I decide that I don't care, she slides away from me. I hear myself make a sad little whine of protest.  
  
"You are hard work, Alexander Luthor." She kisses me, but gently. "We can continue this...discussion later. Now I'm going back to beat up on Clark some more."  
  
Hard WORK is the least of my problems at this moment in time.   
  
"Chloe..." I catch her hand. "...I can't stand the thought of being second best."  
  
"Nobody even comes close to you." She assures me seriously. Sashays out of my office. Leaving me in no fit state to do anything.  
  
I am going to take whatever pieces of Clark she leaves and stamp on them. Right after we continue our...discussion. Now, I'm just going to sit here, very quietly, and blink.  
  
CHLOE  
  
Gaah! Thank God for long tight skirts. Otherwise I would have got a lot closer, and we would have had a serious problem. He makes me so MAD when he goes all insecure like that. And then he looks all vulnerable and sexy. And I could so easily have ripped his shirt off. And I bit him. Oh God.  
  
Now I am going to beat the crap out of Clark. Egotistical pig.   
  
"Get over yourself, Kent. I have." Nearly break my hand thumping him.   
  
It probably looks damn funny, this great strong farm boy cringing away from five foot nothing of squeaky blonde.  
  
CLARK  
  
Hurricane Chloe just blew in. I am in so much trouble.   
  
"Chloe, I'm sorry. I don't know what's going on with you guys."  
  
"Neither do I." She crumples down onto the bench. "Men are just...weird!"  
  
"Lex is...complicated."  
  
"Tell me about it." She shakes her head. "He was strange as hell at the game. And his father was creepy."  
  
"Er...probably why." Cautiously, I sit down next to her. When she doesn't thump me again, I relax. "Have you talked to him?"  
  
She blushes.  
  
"Er...sort of. I really LIKE him, Clark."  
  
"Hang in there, Clo." A thought occurs to me. "If you've seen him, does that mean..."  
  
"Oh, yeah." She looks positively evil. "He's pissed with you, too."  
  
Great. I'm a punch-bag for two of my best friends. Good thing I'm indestructible. 


	5. Reaching for a Reason

~'Drone', during and after.~  
  
5. Reaching for a Reason  
  
LEX  
  
I've been subjected to a reporter. So being me, I head straight off to find another one to tell them about it. This one has reasons to give me good press, though. Snuggles up under my arm. Sneers.  
  
"Kerri Castle. Probably spells it with an 'i'. With a heart over it."  
  
I'm amused. Chloe being bitchy can be very funny.  
  
"You didn't take to her?"  
  
Chloe glares.  
  
"uh, NO! Skanking in here like a bad Bond movie, putting her hands all over MY man."  
  
CHLOE  
  
Oops. Possessive much, Sullivan? Still, if I can't run my hands all over his semi-naked body, SHE definitely can't. Bitch. All badly-dyed hair and skanky-ho short skirt.  
  
Lex has got that self-satisfied smirk he gets when he thinks he's got the better of me. He's a great cuddler - you wouldn't think so, since he's not one for contact normally. But once you get close to him, he gets very territorial.  
  
LEX  
  
Jealous AND possessive. Mmm. So it is a two way street.  
  
Chloe is in a snit today. If I needle her enough, she'll spill the reasons. Probably a fight with Clark. Clark Kent and politics - not an easy juxtaposition there. The kid is too damn nice for political in-fighting.  
  
Thought so. I've been given a hard time by him for not frequenting the Talon recently. I didn't feel inclined to explain my reasons in front of him or Lana. The major reason of course is wriggling about trying to reach the popcorn. I've seen a lot of movies recently. Or a significant portion of them anyway. The rest of the time, I've regressed to adolescence and neck with my girlfriend. Since this is my private theatre, nobody shouts at us.  
  
Lana was actually showing some fight today. She and Chloe are quite close; I like to think that they have a good effect on each other. I'm rather more afraid that they talk about things that would make my ears burn.   
  
***  
  
CHLOE  
  
After reading those health reports I got for Lana, I don't think I want to drink coffee in the Beanery any more. Lex is just going to have to get some less esoteric blends for that terrifying state-of-the-art shuttle launcher he calls a coffee machine. He just showed me the article that the hack-from-hell wrote.  
  
Journalistic fucking integrity, my butt! It was a horrible article, even if I was impartial. Which I'm not.   
  
I know Lex isn't perfect. He's ruthless, arrogant and ambitious - you do not get to be successful in business without being a hardass. But this was cruel. I don't recognize the petulant playboy in it, and I've hacked a few files I shouldn't have. I wouldn't have liked the Metropolis Lex - and the Smallville version is better than this.  
  
I'm not horrified that he bribed her to kill the article. She didn't have to take the deal. I'm aware that he has a dark side. I'm adolescent enough to find it attractive. So sue me, I'm a teenager. What he bribed her -with- horrified me.  
  
LEX  
  
"Lex, promise me one thing. Never...do that to me. Don't buy me a job."  
  
This is important to her, and I understand why. So for the first time in forever, I make a promise and intend to keep it.   
  
I might lie to everyone else, even myself. But I won't lie to Chloe. I don't think I could stand to see her disappointed in me. 


	6. Truth, Justice and Other Stuff

6. Truth, Justice and Other Stuff  
  
LEX  
  
Luthor Hall has turned into Study Hall. Earlier this evening, I had a bunch of teenagers in my library, and I was teaching Chemistry 101. Even Pete Ross was here, making an effort for his good friend Chloe. I never thought to see him in this room again. Lana is hopeless at science - definitely an arts major. Clark...can do calculations very quickly, because I could see him writing. Chloe was chewing her pen, frowning. She got ink on her chin, and didn't notice. My girlfriend doing her homework, whilst I run my company.   
  
If I look up from my desk, she's curled up on the sofa, asleep. She's taken another one of my sweaters. I like seeing her in my clothes - makes me feel possessive. She calls me Alexander, drawing the syllables out. I've never been teased like this before. Bullied, sneered at, verbal abuse, yes. Victoria had a nice line in torment. This is quite different, gentle and intimate.   
  
"I ought to be getting home now, Lex."  
  
Chloe, pink and sleepy, wrapped in cashmere. Shame she's only been asleep on my sofa.  
  
"Better get changed first, sweetheart. The inference is wonderful, but I'll have your father up here with a shotgun."  
  
We don't get much time together. She has school and the paper, I have my job. Quite often, we're in public or with her friends - our friends - and I'm still wary of showing affection in front of other people. So we have the odd snatched evening, some of the weekend. Walking in the grounds, talking, watching movies. Call it the pathetic hangover from a love-starved childhood, but I hadn't realised how comfortable it is to just cuddle. Not a word I associated with myself, and my vocabulary is quite extensive. Other new concepts - responsibility, respect, restraint. I would like to keep Chloe here for my own private pleasure, but Lex Luthor has turned into a proper gentleman, and this does not include seducing high-school girls, much as he would like to.   
  
I'm used to taking women to bed. There have been Metropolis society weddings where I've slept with the bride and the bridesmaids. Even the bride's mother once. I want more than that. Being intimate is something else, something new.  
  
One thing I am is patient. Oh yeah, and frustrated. Any other woman, I would have slept with her by now. Or with her friend. Or someone. I caught myself looking at Ms. Castles' legs. And yet...that was my life in Metropolis. Smallville is making me soft. I'm trying to be a decent human being.  
  
CHLOE  
  
I've crossed another line.   
  
That speech I gave Clark about the impartial observation of the fourth estate? So much crap when that two-bit hack wrote off my boyfriend. I wanted to bitch-slap her up Main Street. And that made me think - if I can be impartial in the case of Clark Kent and his political aspirations, but not in the case of Lex Luthor and a hatchet job, what does that say?  
  
I am in love with Lex Luthor. I love Lex.   
  
There. Out in the forefront of my mind, where I can't hide from it.  
  
I dare not tell him. I want to. But I have a fear that he will close that fortress face of his, retreat back, and become ice again. I've seen his eyes go soft, seen him laugh, seen him human. And I can't lose that.  
  
What a pair. Two insecure people, afraid of not measuring up. Lex doesn't like anyone to see his weaknesses, works very hard to cover them up. He must hate being needy. I do.  
  
LEX  
  
What can we do? We can go out locally, and have people stare at us. Or we can go out in Metropolis and risk the papers. And my father. Do I love her? That's a strong word. It isn't one I'm going to use lightly. It's...a possibility.  
  
The most surprised I have ever been? Two small strong hands gripping my shirt collar, drawing me into a fierce kiss. A hand on my backside. A wicked tongue teasing mine. Being met with equal passion. Fingers tracing the scar above my heart. Being wanted for myself.  
  
My timing stinks. I'm too old for her at the moment, she's too young for me. She needs to see the world, find out what she wants. And it may not be me.  
  
I told her about Cassandra's vision.  
  
And Chloe...my sensible angel Chloe, just held me and said, "Well, of course the vision was dreadful - you were watching her die."  
  
I was stunned. Does this mean that I don't have to fear a dark future? That the terror and pain weren't mine, or my doing?  
  
"She was old and sick. She could have died at any time. She could have been holding Clark's hand. Or Lana's. Anyone's."  
  
I didn't kill her. It wasn't my future that killed her. She died.  
  
And I so want to believe that.  
  
Because if I do, then I am free. Free to do what I want with my future, without fear or doubt. I could let someone get close to me without destroying them.   
  
I could tell Chloe that I loved her. 


End file.
